Photonics Engineer

Location: Adelphi, MD, Maryland, United States

Employment Type: Full Time / Salaried / Exempt

Anticipated Salary Range: $ – $

Security Clearance: Ability to Obtain

Level of

Experience:

Mid

We are seeking a Phonics/Electrical Engineer to support our work with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, MD. The Photonics Engineer will work on‑site within an integrated, results‑oriented research and development team environment in the Electronic Warfare (EW) Branch. Candidates should hold a PhD in physics or electrical engineering and be eager to advance sophisticated EW technologies. Responsibilities include researching adversary warfare technology trends, defining and designing advanced EW compact payloads, deriving RF and photonics requirements, and integrating photonics‑based EW capabilities into next‑generation heterogeneous structures.

The role involves direct collaboration with senior technical personnel, program managers, and external partners to transition prototype systems to the U.S. Army development and acquisition enterprise.

• Research adversary warfare systems technology trends and techniques
• Participate in defining requirements for EW compact payloads
• Apply knowledge of adversary technologies and notional blue force concepts to define requirements for EW compact payloads
• Derive RF requirements for mixed analog, digital, and photonics design and translate into photonics specifications
• Apply novel trends in photonics RF such as wideband receivers and transmitters, oscillators, low‑noise amplifiers, high‑power amplifiers, filters, and photonics computation to EW applications
• Work with multi‑mode integrated circuit designers to develop requirements and specifications for fabricated and heterogeneously integrated electronics such as photonics integrated circuits
• Work with ARL photonics experts and utilize lab equipment to develop physical bench‑level and lab demonstrations of photonics EW applications
• Collaborate with ARL manufacturing experts to integrate photonics RF into heterogeneous structures consisting of conformal antennas, photonics, analog and digital electronics, bio‑inspired computing, and emerging energy storage layers

• Recent graduate of a PhD program from an R1 university with specialization in Photonics RF, including receivers, transmitters, mixers, filters, oscillators, and photonics computation
• Strong communication (written and verbal) skills
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment
• U.S. Citizen with ability to obtain a Secret Clearance

• Completion of Post Doc
• Experience with EW applications
• Working knowledge of MATLAB or Python
• Interest in advancing and prioritizing national security technologies

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.